


Departure

by Quillofthoth



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24328003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillofthoth/pseuds/Quillofthoth
Summary: An eager boy boards the Hogwart’s Express, ready to meet his hero, Harry Potter. The boy’s name? Draco malfoy. Canon Compliant
Kudos: 1





	Departure

“Draco.” Father’s cold voice was clear even through the crowded and bustling train station. I looked up at him “Yes, Father?” I asked, careful to keep my voice calm and polite, trying to ignore the excitement pounding through my body.   
Two families had joined us on the Platform. They were large, unattractive types, The Crabbe and Goyle families, they came to our Christmas parties as did many of the old pureblood Death Eaters, my father had stayed close to even after the trials.   
“You already know Crabbe and Goyle,” Father said nodding to the two boys my age “They will protect you at school.”   
I nodded to them “Thank you.” I said unsure of what was the proper response to that, Father shot me a look that said quite plainly that it was not that. But the two large boys smiled at me.   
“I expect you will do well in your studies.” Father said.  
“Of course.” I responded.  
He nodded “ Good luck.”   
“Thank you.”   
My mother drew me into a quick hug, “Write often.” She whispered into my ear and I felt a pang of guilt, what would mother think of all of this? I loved my mother, behind her cold front sometimes I saw glimpses of a warm kind woman, but it would be there one minute and gone the next. I tried to remind myself that she was just as guilty of the crimes as father was, torturing and killing without cause, reason, or logic. But somehow I never quite believed it. “ I will.” I whispered back.   
I smiled at Crabbe and Goyle “Well, come on let’s find a compartment.” I said and they nodded. To my great surprise, Goyle, the larger of them, picked up my trunk as well as his and carried them both onto the train. As I boarded I looked back wishing to wave as the rest of the children were, but Father would only take that as weakness so I simply nodded to them as we found a compartment. Crabbe and Goyle easily lifted the trunks up to put them on the racks, and we sat down, an awkward silence falling.   
I looked about the compartment failing to find anything to comment on, I knew that Crabbe and Goyle didn’t talk much, but if we were going to be stuck together for seven years we should probably get to know each other. “What quidditch position do you play?” I asked, deciding to go for the safest topic. Although clearly they were either Beaters or Keepers. “Beater.” Crabbe grunted.  
I looked at Goyle. “Yeah. Beater.” He grunted.   
I nodded. “ I play Seeker.” I said, and then the awkward silence fell again.   
“Well,” I said, getting up, “I should probably find Nott and the others.” I said, getting up and going to the door, they looked like they were thinking about following, so I simply opened the door and leaned against it, I was looking for Nott, Parkinson, and Greengrass but I was also looking for him. I knew he was coming this year, he was the same age I was. No one knew the details about what had happened to him after that night but it was rumored he lived with muggles. Would he be dressed like one? Would he be in school robes? I had seen pictures of the Potters, and I knew he was dark haired as a child. Would I be able to recognize him? Would he look like the hero they said he was?  
“Malfoy,” A voice said, and I looked over to see Theodore Nott standing there, giving me a fake smile. “Nott.” I said, giving him a fake smile in return, “How have you been?”   
“Good,”He said “Yourself?”  
“Excellent.” I said “Care to join us? Crabbe and Goyle will help with your trunk.”   
He nodded, and I turned back to the large boys “Goyle, Nott needs help with his trunk.” The large boy grunted and came out easily lifting it and carrying back into the compartment. Nott walked past me and gave me a blank look, “ Why are you standing by the door?” He asked  
“ I’m waiting for the girls.” I answered.  
Nott nodded and sat down, looking awkwardly around as he began to feel the uncomfortable silence fill the compartment.   
I continued to lean against the door looking for the girls, and Potter.   
Greengrass came in next after bidding her parents and younger sister goodbye, she smiled at me “Malfoy.”   
I smiled back “Greengrass. How have you been?”  
“Good.” She had walked past me, her trunk clearly had some form of Lightening Charm on it as she had no difficulty lifting it to place it on the rack. “Aren’t you going to join us, Malfoy?”   
I shook my head “Still waiting for Parkinson.” I said, she gave me a sympathetic look as she sat down next to Nott. “Can you believe the Falmouth Falcons won?” she asked. Crabbe and Goyle both grunted, but Nott looked relieved to have something to talk about “ I know I thought for sure that the Appleby Arrows would win.”  
“Well, they would have if their best Chaser hadn’t been knocked off his broom half way through the game.” I offered still looking for Parkinson and Potter.   
“The Arrows are out of the running now though,” Nott said.   
“I don’t think the Falcons will last much longer.” Greengrass said “The Kencels have not lost a game this season, Falcons don’t stand a chance.”  
Parkinson was walking down the hall now and I felt something sinking in my chest, I still hadn’t seen Potter, where was he? Parkinson walked over to me, holding out her hand. I took it and pressed my lips to it for a second. I looked over her shoulder one last time, but Potter was nowhere to be seen. I took her arm and we walked into the compartment together.   
“I don’t like to talk about quidditch.” Parkinson whined the moment we were in.   
Greengrass glanced at her with an amused look “Draco plays, you better get use to it.”   
Parkinson sniffed, and looked at Nott and Greengrass “Draco, don’t you want to be able to sit together?” She asked, with a pointed look at me.   
“Right,” I muttered, then in a clearer voice “Nott, I would like to sit with Parkinson.”   
Nott looked surprised, which was unsurprising, he was higher class then Greengrass, and his parents were Death Eaters, which hers were not, she was in this compartment by blood only. However, I had no interest in sitting in between Parkinson and Nott, Greengrass I could at least stand.   
Nott stood and awkwardly sat at the end of the seats that Crab and Goyle were at looking rather like a five year old next to the two large boys. Parkinson and I sat down on the seat with Greengrass   
“So what do we know about the teachers?” Greengrass asked, glaring at Parkinson, but changing the subject.   
“McGonagall favors the Gryffindors.” Nott offered,   
“Obviously.” Parkinson added  
I laughed however, “We’re going to complain about McGonagall favoring the Gryffindors? With Dumbledore running the school?”   
“Still,” Nott said “It doesn’t seem fair that both the Headmaster and the deputy Headmistress favor Gryffindor. We only have Snape and from what I've heard from Father he’s a traitor to the cause.”   
“Really?” I asked, allowing a polite curiosity to color my voice. “Is that so?”  
“Of course,” Nott said “Didn’t you know? Father's always said he was.”  
“Astounding” I said   
His eyes narrowed “ What is?”  
“That you would dare insult one of my father's friends with me in the room of course, “ I said, giving him a cold glare. Nott glared back, but wasn’t foolish enough to say anything. What he said got me thinking however, I had never questioned Snape’s loyalty, I had never questioned anyone’s loyalty, except my own, was it possible that I wasn’t alone?   
“I wonder who the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher will be this year.” Greengrass cut in. I leaned back in my seat “Dumbledore bullied the Muggle Studies teacher into it.” I said   
“How do you know?” Nott said, trying and failing to keep the grumble out of his voice.  
“My Father’s on the school board, Nott, he likes to keep me informed.” I said, but as we couldn’t spend the whole train ride baring our teeth; I threw him a bone. “I just feel sorry for the man, I wonder what he did to annoy Dumbledore, clearly he wants something to happen to him.”   
Nott nodded “Just like Dumbledore, I wonder what he did, told the students the truth about muggles?”  
“Probably, I don’t know why anyone allows him to be in charge of education.” Parkinson interjected.   
I could see everyone relaxing as we moved into comfortable waters, we continued to insult Dumbledore and when we ran out of things to say about him we moved on to the other teachers (though no one mentioned Snape). The only time we were distracted was when a round faced boy came in and asked if we had seen a toad. “You brought a Toad?” Parkinson laughed, “Someone actually brought a Toad?”   
The boy blushed, but I shot her a look, there was something familiar about the boy. “I haven’t seen a toad.” I said, hoping I kept the amusement out of my voice. “What’s your name?”   
“Longbottom,” he muttered “Neville Longbottom, if you haven’t seen Trevor I’ll be going.”  
“Right,” I said, this time I didn’t think I managed to stop the horror from leaking into my voice. He looked at me for a second, “I’ve met Harry Potter!” He said suddenly.  
“Of course you have.” Nott said, barely holding back his laughter.  
“I have, he’s on the train, near the end.” As Nott and Parkinson started to laugh, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, Longbottom fleed out the door.   
I could hear the others talking and laughing about the idiot boy with the toad. I sat there frozen as I thought about where I recognized him, it was just that he looked so much like his mother, the blank faced woman always with candy, she never seemed to notice other people in the room. Father and I spent a lot of time at St. Mungos, after all it was the Longbottom’s that had bought his freedom, he’d been so horrified by his sister-in-law’s actions he had donated 10,000 Gallons to St. Mungos at once as a hope of finding a cure of people like the Longbottoms. Or at least that was the official story.   
Once the Trolley Lady came we bought candy and enjoyed ourselves with Chocolate Frogs, Licorice Wands, and Every Flavored Beans, but my mind kept going back to Potter, where was he? I could just wait until we got to Hogwarts, but I couldn’t mainly out of curiosity. This was the Boy who had saved the entire wizarding world (and the muggle one). I had to meet him, I had to befriend him, if it was true he’d been raised by muggles, he wouldn’t understand this world at all, he wouldn’t understand the snarks he was surrounded by, he wouldn’t understand that someone could smile at you, while imaging what to do with your dead body.  
I got up and walked towards the door, “Where are you going, Draco?” Pansy whined at once. “I’m getting some air, I’ve been in here for hours already, it’s worse than getting my robes.”   
Crabbe and Goyle stood and I fought back a sigh, but I reasoned, I better get used to it, this would be the way of things for the next seven years if I couldn’t trust them. Who could I trust?   
I was glad no one else tried to follow me as I would have had to shake them off, we went off, as we reached the end of the train I started opening doors of the students asking them where Harry Potter was all of them seemed to have some idea where he was and slowly it was narrowed down to one.   
I opened the door, excitement almost knocking me over, and then I looked in. There were only two people in the compartment and I could feel my heart sinking, one had red hair and freckles and the other was a black haired boy dressed in oversized muggle clothes, but I knew the boy it was that stupid muggle boy that had been it Madam Malkin’s with me, that stupid muggle boy that was apparently Harry Potter.   
“Is it true?” I asked, hoping I was wrong and this was not Harry Potter but some other war orphan. “They’re saying all down the train that Harry Potter’s in this compartment. So it’s you, is it?” I said, staring at the boy, who couldn’t possibly be the Boy-Who-Lived, the one who defeated the Dark Lord, and the boy who had been my only hope to stop him from coming back.   
“Yes.” said the boy, Harry Potter. He was looking at me and then past me at Crabbe and Goyle.  
“Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” I said and then I realized that I hadn’t ever told him my name. “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.  
The Red Haired Boy covered his face and tried to cover his laugh with a cough. My eyes narrowed. Say what you like about my father, but the Malfoy line is an ancient and important line that had added far more to the wizarding world then the inbreed Weasleys had ever done.   
“Think my name’s funny do you? No need to ask who you are. My Father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford.”   
I turned back to Harry Potter this was it, this was my one chance to talk to him, to befriend him. “You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.” I hoped he would see that I knew every wizarding line, that I could tell him how each family played the power game or which, like the Weasley, didn’t play at all and prefered the use of fists.   
I was holding out my hand, but he didn’t take it, he was looking at me coldly, like how I often looked at my Father.   
“I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks.” He said, still looking at me like I was some sort of worm, What had I said to him in Madam Malkin’s ? I couldn’t even remember. I could feel my face flushing, I would get no help here, I had failed and the wizarding world would burn for it. There was nothing left to do. “I’d be careful if I were you, Potter,” I said unsure if I was warning him or treating him. “Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same way as your parents. They didn’t know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Wealseys and that Hagrid, and it’ll rub off on you.”   
Both Potter and Weasley jumped to their feet and as mad as I was I found myself fighting the urge to laugh, they acted like muggles always ready to fight with their hands instead of spells and words, I could see that Harry Potter would have never been a help anyway, there was no way this boy could stand a chance against my father, let alone his master.  
“Say that again,” Weasley spat at me.   
“Oh, you’re going to fight us, are you?” I asked, after all as barbaric as it was, I had Crabbe and Goyle with me and this was the entire point of them.   
“Unless you get out now,” Potter said.  
“But we don’t feel like leaving, do we, boys?” I asked with the briefest glance at Crabbe and Goyle, who nodded. “We’ve eaten all our food and you still seem to have some.”   
They didn’t need telling twice. Goyle at once reached out a hand to grab some chocolate Frogs, Weasley moved forwards- but Goyle was already yelling, jumping about, screaming, a rat dangling off his finger. Crabbe and I backed up, if he had held still a second I could have gotten it off for him, but he seemed deranged, swinging around. I was horrified it was no surprise the Wealsey had rats, but to bring them to school? To feed them candy, like they were human? and they wondered why others thought poorly of them. Goyle managed to fling the rat off his finger, I was out the door, followed only a second later by Crabbe and Goyle.   
Trying to fight back tears, I pushed past a brown haired girl. I had failed, I thought back to my father, the long hours he spent locked in his office looking for a way to bring the dark lord back, the trips we went on searching for some part of the dark lord that had to have survived, the books he poured over that were bound in human flesh, but worst of all the fact that he seemed to believe he had found something, he seemed to think that soon he would be able to bring the dark lord back. I could not stop him, and that boy back there couldn’t either, but now he wouldn’t even know he was in danger.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you want me to continue this story. Review, etc. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
